Internal bracing for liquid storage tanks



Dec. 5, 1950 F. PLUMMER INTERNAL BRACING FOR LIQUID STORAGE TANKS Filed Sept. 27, 1946 INVENTOR:

Fred 1.. Plummer Patented Dec. 5, 1950 so: STATES,

Fied'lf. Blummerg warren, Pa, assignoe-to Harn-- mon'd lron Works, Warren, Pa., a corporatiom of Pennsylvania Applicationfseptember 27, 1946;;SerialiNo.6993731 Tfiisltinvention' relates to the. internalibracing ofliquidtstdrage tanks of 'thetype that. arewusedl whileburied in the grounds. Municipalities generally require such .tanks and especially those for.- the storage ..of .fuelliquidsto zbe soburiedf When. such a tank is empty, ,theldirt' aroundfit .tends to put the tank under compressive, forces. whereas when such a tank is full, its liquidcontents and; vapor pressure tendito put the tank under ;ten-. sionalforces: Thus',.,it*is impprt'antto brace the. tank internally; so it williwithstandassuredlyboth. types ofi suchiorces;

Heretofore, this'bracinglhas been'dbne by using columnar-suppprt's extending between adjacent andopposite walls with.the ends of the columnar. supports .in contactLwith their adjacent" walls, butthis' required a: great "mamnsucli' supports or carrierbracingmembers in order'.to reinforce the tank adequately; So an objectflof this invention is to 'interpose loadadistrihuting"constructions betweerrthe columnarlends'and their adjacent walls. witl'fa view to dispersingthe'thrust v(or the ree verse) over"a' larger wall area whereby. fewercolumnar supports orbracing members can be used without detriment. Heretofore, ithas' friequently'been considered necessary to space such supports'n'ot'more than two feetapart, whereas. b'y'theuse of 'this invention; one'such support can-be providedfor'ea'clf' sixteen square feet of. wall surface; In other words, one" fourth as 30 many supports can be used. This provides more space'for: cleaning "and maintenance, as well" as' fewerpicesandmore economicalerection and fabrication;-

ThisP la-d' distributing"construction comprises 35 loads'di'stributing orbase members-welded 'to the ends of bracingitmembersas well as welded to thei tan-ki; Walls... 'ITliese-e base members are H- shaped and the ends of the bracing members are connected therewithor -welded"thereto substantially, atf 17113108111361 or centerrof gravityof -.-that H -shape.

Each such. H .-shaperepresents 7 avrectangular bracing areaon the tank wall, and "a pattern or composition of such H-shapes-may be arranged- 45 on predetermined' forrespectivezswalls of "a a tank to' satisfy -certainstructuralbracing requirements. Tll'erarrangement of such a'pattern covering-a tank-zwall 'rmay represent -rows= of F H--shapes suit ablyz spacedf fr'o-m one another- -sotliat thesecrows have vertical as -wel1-as=horiZontal intersecting lanes of wall areal between-[thematic widths of which lanes are such as to satisfythe structural bracing requirements:

- Ohe"0b1iectof="this invention is-to provi'deaam internal bracing system that satisfies the" structural bracing requirements that the proportion of the braced-e to :the unbraced portion. of the? total tank wall area:-must not"be.belowva-certain specified value; and alsothat-such alproportion should; be? providedxsubstantiallyuniformly for. respective E'wall .areas of the tanle; ,andto providesuchratsystem-vthat: can 'be' constructed; cheaply and-quickly and: with. a" minimum oft-weight; and can be erected with a minimum of cost-in..lab0r: and with a minimum of: inconvenience? to the erecting crew:

To that end; this invention finds-i,embodimentinzthe load-distributinggconstruction disposed between stea'chaendmf the columnar "support-and its-E theHshapeiof -vtheebase members: may vary; It-

is.sthereiorewoneaof-thegfeatures of-fthis invention; torprovide basewmembersrtorsuit any particular requirement, by constructingrthe HF-shapeithereof-t proportions oflvthe: H -shape have been fixed: by; determining.'therlengthsfof'ztheavertical and: of: the: horizontal portionst of}: the: H'-shape2 such lengths-are:thenrcutafrom"thecommercialllengths of ang-leziron; andi tliesercutz-offi lengths 'are then welded'togethertrtor constitute-the H -shape. This? Hsshapezthen presentsna-rrow longitudinal'edges ofrits: component portiorralliinzone;plane;znamely therplane in':;whio'lI-these edges'sare to'be welded tofitlilfiitank wall'r. Thus? oneeshankaiof' the.- angle profiles; otsthesei component." portions extends at right-tangles from theifaceiofiithe tankiwall; while:

thesoth'errshank of theseprofilesiextends parallel to and spaced from; thati-face: Thus=- thei. horizontal angleiiron of theH;shapetpresentsparallel to'zthezrespectivei tank-t wallijai face. to which the:

bracingsmember-sproper "can bawelded;

The-invention possesses other objects andfeatures'zofi'advantage; someoftwhich with the -fore-:-

goingswill ihe= set 'fo'rth'. in the following descrip tiom; Inna the; following-description and" int the claimssapartsewill Lb'e identified by specific names for cnnveniencegbut they aresintended to'beasgeneric: int their application :to similar parts as the artiwi'llw'permit'; I'n the'raccompanying drawings there: has been; illustrated the best embodiment xofsthe' invention known 'to me; but" such manycpossiblezembodimentsg and theinvention is natstozbelimited thereton The novel features considered characteristic of my invention are set forth with particularity in the appended claim. The invention itself, however, both as to its organization and its method of operation, together with additional objects and advantages thereof, will best be understood from the following description of a specific embodiment when read in connection with the accompanying drawings in which Fig. 1 is a perspective diagrammatic view of a liquid storage tank in which the dotted lines indicate sections taken upon the tank such as represented by Figs. 2, 3 and 4;

Fig. 2 is a cross-section taken on the dotted line 2-2 of Fig. 1, diagrammatically showing an idealized pattern of the bracing system;

Fig. 3 is a longitudinal section taken on the dotted line 33 in Fig. 1, showing a corresponding view of the diagrammatical or idealized arrangement of the bracing system;

Fig. 4 is a perspective View of a corner portion as indicated by the dotted line 4-4 in Fig. 1, showing schematically the idealized load distribution pattern whereby the load upon the members of the bracing system is transmitted to respective H-shaped bases;

Figs. 5 and 6 are detail perspective view examples of the vertical columnar and of the inclined bracing members respectively;

Fig. 7 is a perspective detail view example of a combination of a vertical columnar with an inclined corner bracing member.

According to the diagrammatic Figs. 1, 2 and 3, a rectangular tank It has a bottom II, a top [2, longitudinal side walls I3 and i i and end walls [5 and IS.

The system of brace members diagrammatically shown in Figs. 2 and 3 comprises three rows R R R of vertical members or columns H interconnected by horizontal brace elements l8 and l8 Each of the bottom, top, side and end walls is stifiened with respect to each of its adjoining tank walls or portions by means of three rows R R R of inclined corner brace member l9, 2|! and 2| respectively. Thus there presents itself a pattern of vertical columnar and of inclined corner brace members as representatively illustrated in the perspective showing of the corner portion in Fig. 4. This pattern includes vertical columns i! such as detailed in the perspective Fig. 5, inclined corner brace members 2|] such as detailed in the perspective Fig. 6, and a plural brace connection or connection of several converging brace members as exemplified at point M in the perspective Fig. 4 and as detailed in the perspective Fig. '7 comprising a vertical columnar member and a pair of inclined corner brace members, all converging upon and welded to a common H-shaped brace structure.

The entire bracing system is shown to comprise exclusively straight lengths of standard steel profiles, namely those that are L-shaped in crosssection or known as angle irons. These lengths of profile irons are welded together to compose the various bracing elements including their H- shaped bases, and these bases in turn by Way of their H-shaped pattern are welded to the respective walls of the tank. The vertical member H" as exemplified in Fig. 5 comprises a vertical columnar portion or angle iron 22 to which is welded at each end a horizontally extending H- shaped load-transmitting structure 23 comprising a transverse portion 24 to each end of which in turn is welded a transverse portion 25 and 26 respectively. The portions 24, 25 and 26 of the base are welded together in such a manner that their edges 24 and 2|; fall into a common plane, namely that of the respective tank wall portion to which they in turn are welded. The height in of portion 24 is shown to be somewhat greater than the height hz of the portions 25 and 26. As an alternative, instead of the L- shaped cross-sectional profile of portion 24 a T-shaped profile may be used, with the base edge of the T to be welded to the tank wall. According to another alternative the transverse portion 24 being L-shaped or T-shaped in cross section may be used with or without the supplementary cross pieces 25 and 2B.

The example of an inclined corner brace member 20 in Fig. 6 comprises an inclined bracing portion or angle iron 2'! out on the bias at each end in such a manner as to render it suitable for welding connection with a horizontally extending H-shaped base structure 28 and with a vertically extending H-shaped base structure 29.

- The base structures 28 and 29 of this inclined structure (see Fig. '7) comprises a vertical or columnar angle iron 30 and substantially converging upon it a pair of inclined corner bracing elements or angle irons 3| and 32. all welded to a common H-shaped base structure 33. This example corresponds to the juncture of bracing members at point M in Fig. 4.

, An inspection of Figs. 2, 3 and 4 will further show that the inclined corner braces 2| converge upon and are welded to a common H-shaped base structure as exemplified at point P (in Fig. 4) while an example at point Q (in Fig. 4) shows a third brace member 2| joining the two other members 2| upon a common H-shaped loadtran mitting base structure.

I claim:

In a tank for the storage of liquids having top, side and end walls, internal bracing means extending between and interconnecting two of said walls comprising a load-distributing H-shaped base member welded to each wall. the H-shape of said base member compr sing component porticns in the form of angle irons and dispo ed for edgewise contact of the one shank of said angle irons with the wall and thus presenting an H- shaped contact edge welded to the wall, and a bracing member having welded connection with the central portion of said H-shape.

FRED L. PLUMMER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 473,183 Wightman Apr. 19, 1892 870,053 Scholes Nov. 5, 1907 1,652,415 Schenker Dec. 13, 1927 1,738,483 Raymond Dec. 3, 1929 2,296,414 Albrecht Sept. 22, 1942 2,331,483 Lawman et a1 Oct. 12, 1943 OTHER REFERENCES Arc Welded Steel Frame Structures, First edition, by Gilbert D Fish, 1933; McGraw-Hill Book Co. 

